G'er Ascendant
by CRose
Summary: The Rise from Padawan to a Knight is full of trials that show one's true potential. What adventures await G'er on his quest to become a True Jedi? Why does his lightsaber short out every time he uses it?


After suffering from Writers Block for the last several months, I finally managed to get something completely new written up. This is a Star Wars story set about 4000 years before the movies take place. This gives me the freedom to do things with an original flare that you just can't do during the modern setting.

This means that most of the characters will be original, but if you follow the SW books and games you will recognize some of the characters I'm using. I'm trying not to follow the usual themes in SW or to use over done relationships to move to the story along. To that end there is not set pairing, if one develops at all, it will be spur of the moment.

Certain part of history will be touched on as well since this takes place before Dark Lord Revan made his appearance. I am not a SW expert, I'm reseaching things, but I may not get everything perfect, I hope I don't offend to many readers with my mistakes.

CRose

oooooooooo

G'er Ascendant:

Chapter 01

By Cory Rose

(C) 2010

oooooooooo

With a rumbling roar a small grayish ship pierced the clouds in a downward angle, until slowly leveling off above the trees in a gentle arc until it came to hover above a large clearing. It contained a small stone building partially collapsed under its own weight. The pilot brought to ship into a silent hover and let the computers run several scans on the land below. This kicked up a bit of dust under the ship as the engines stabilized it.

The search parameters were already programmed and it only took a few minutes for the signal she was looking for to appear. It had taken her several months to find the correct wavelength to program into the computer, but once she had it, her work progressed at an accelerated rate. With a mental nod, she tapped a couple of buttons and let the ship land itself just a few yards from the collapsed building.

As soon as she could, she was out of the ship and striding towards the building, her dark brown cloak swirling around her as she walked. Even with her hood up you could tell that she had something covering her eyes, her long white hair hung down around her chest in a couple of braids. The silence around the area was almost absolute, only broken by a breeze. Coming to a stop, she bent her head forward, closed her eyes, and let her senses spread out over the area.

Jedi Master Kreia did not like what the Force was telling her as she stood there. The Dark Side was present just like her computer said, but it was almost invisible, or dampened in some way. A Padawan would never have been able to sense it either. According to her studies, Sith Lord Komok-Da hid one of is three Holocrons at this location two thousand years before. To find any information stating exactly where to find one was next to impossible. As far as she could tell, this was a waste of time. The council certainly thought so when she requested to go look into it.

The Jedi at the time knew of the devices, but never got around locating them and storing them in a safe place. Time and again the Sith were beaten back only to have their knowledge surge back into being and cause the deaths of millions. Even now the Jedi Council thought she was wasting her time tracking down old Sith Holocrons and other items.

It baffled her to no end how they thought like that. It was as if the whole group lived in a different reality. She shook her head and sighed. So here she was on the planet Russan with only a few thousand inhabitants on the planet itself. The area was isolated enough that no one would find the thing unless they knew exactly what to look for. Sensors on the ship only picked up animal life and rocks.

Both the Sith and the Jedi used Holocrons, but it was the manner they were used in that determined the type. A Jedi, who fought for peace and freedom made basic ones to pass along knowledge. Sith on the other hand knew that they were working from a position of weakness. They had to fight for everything they ever wanted, destroying whatever they came across in the name of power.

If a Jedi came across a Sith Holocron it was strongly suggested that the things be destroyed, but knowledge is hard to just throw away, so it rarely happened. The Jedi Archives held several of the things in a secure vault under the archives on Ossus. Only a Master Jedi could access the vault and only when they were in pairs.

The Sith Holocrons radiated the Dark Side, corrupting everything near them eventually. It was that corruption that she was searching for now. She moved a little closer to the building and was a little surprised to find that she was moving in the wrong direction. The tiny little disturbance in the Force was off to her right.

What she had taken as a bit of loose stone was actually a pile of hand cut rocks covered in two thousand years dirt and rain. All around her grass was growing from every nook and cranny in sight, except this pile. Now that she was closer it was kind of obvious that the small pile was corrupted by something. She could feel the Dark Side as she examined the stones a little closer.

Lifting her hand, she let the Force flow through her and carefully lifted several of the stones while she was several feet away. Just in case there was some kind of trap. As this was the creation of a Sith Lord, she knew that something was bound to happen. These things were never easy to retrieve.

Several stones flew through the air, landing several yards away with a little thump. She stopped the instant she uncovered a hollow and spotted a small black box. Suddenly she felt a bit nauseous and took a second to focus again. Even after searching for these things for all these years she still had problems shrugging off the effect the Dark Side had on her.

Her lip curled up as she moved closer to the box. No wonder it was so hard to find the thing even when she was just a few steps from it. The box worked like a void, hiding the contents from any Force sensitive that came across it. There were Masters on the Council that didn't know about these boxes since they went out popularity thousands of years ago.

To find one these days was considered the find of a lifetime. Only a Force user could make the boxes and the knowledge was lost long ago. Now she might have a chance to look at one without the Council hiding it away the instant it entered the Temple. The Force was telling her it was safe to pick up and there were no traps around the box.

Still, she used the Force to lift it out of the small hole and draw it over to her hand. She was on high alert, expecting an attack from whatever protections were here to guard the box. Every site she visited had something dangerous attached to it. Yet this place was way to quiet for her peace of mind. There was always a trap.

Her white hair fluttered in the breeze as she moved back towards the ship. Even now she couldn't detect anything dangerous. It was a little unsettling and it made her nervous. Just as she got the box stowed away in a protective compartment designed to hold it, she suddenly sensed a powerful surge in the Force. It was rare for a surge this powerful to happen, but she was on high alert for anything out of the ordinary.

Over by the collapsed building she could just make out a child picking himself of the ground beside the old house. He hadn't been in the area when she arrived either. Her scanners would have picked up on him.

Where had he come from?

She walked over and could instantly feel his presence in the Force. He glanced up as she got closer and backed up a few steps. It was easy to tell that he was wary of her and a little confused. Surprisingly she didn't sense any fear at all.

"What is your name, little one." She asked, staring at him.

His wild back hair obscured his face a little, but she could tell that was wearing a primitive version of eye correction on his face. They were dirty and cracked, and she could tell that he hadn't seen a bath in sometime. He was also visibly hungry to her Force senses. His clothing wasn't worn or ripped, but she could tell that they got a lot of use and were a couple sizes too big. His head shook back and forth a few times as he regarded her.

His green eyes instantly caught her attention because they were bright green, even through the glasses. Her senses got slammed with his emotions and she almost staggered back. It wasn't often that she was in a position like this. Too much time around the Younglings at the temple spoiled her when it came to children who were not Jedi raised.

"I am Jedi Master Kreia."

The boy didn't say anything at first, as if he was examining her soul. "I'm G'er."

He was lying. She almost snorted, but felt he was just being cautious. That meant he was intelligent enough to think he might be in trouble. "Hello, what are you doing out here?"

"Just exploring."

"Where are you from?"

"Around."

She laughed. "So am I."

He glared at her and didn't say anything. Instead he frowned and crossed his arms over his chest and just watched her.

"You have the potential to use the Force and become a Jedi, G'er." She told him, getting right to the point. "You could be a powerful Jedi."

"What's a Jedi?"

She gaped at him. How could anyone not know what a Jedi was? He must not have been around modern society very much or lived on his own for a long time and for a child that couldn't be more than six, that was saying something. This trip was turning out to be rather enlightening on a lot of levels. "Jedi are protectors and we defend the Republic with the Force. The Force is an energy field that gives us power to use in defense of others. The longer you use it the easier it is to use."

The boy wasn't sure what to say. He didn't even know how he got here in the first place, but what she was offering was better than living in the forest around him. His relatives had never really wanted him around and now he was given a chance to take control of his life. He gave a small nod, but he wouldn't just trust her.

She would have to earn that trust.

Master Kreia sighed as she read the boy's emotions and can't help agreeing with them. He had a lot of potential, but it was untrained and he was already distrusting, it would take some work to get around that so he could use the Force to help people. Trust was one of the emotions a Jedi had to have in order to access the Force.

There was also a strange feel to the boy, as if he was already channeling the Force without any training. Then right as she lets her guard down, even the tiniest bit, she is hit from behind by a powerful disturbance in the force. Spinning around, making sure that G'er is behind her, as her lightsaber jumps from her belt. The evil taint in the air around them exploded in all directions. Their clothing started to billow behind them as the wind blasted the two of them at high speed.

Kreia only had a split second to respond as the pile of rocks where she found the box suddenly exploded outward with massive force. Stepping forward she lashed out with her saber and cut several rocks in half, using the Force to send them safely to the sides. She heard G'er gasp in shock behind her.

From the remains of the rock pile a dark glowing mist was slowly rising upwards and forming into a humanoid shape. She instantly recognized that she was looking at a Sith Wraith, one of ancient guardians of the Ancient Sith Order. The man's black clothing slowly formed on the slightly distorted body as it stepped forward, a grotesque helm of some animal upon its head had a pair of glowing red eyes.

"Weak little Jedi, you think that you can just steal the Master's property?" The voice was old and very dead.

"What is that?" G'er asked suddenly, fascinated despite the massive amounts of Dark energy filling the area.

"Get to my ship G'er, it's to dangerous for you to be out there with this filth." She ordered, using her saber to point at the ship.

The Wraith laughed. "None shall escape the might and power of the Sith!"

It threw its hand forward and sent a burst of Sith Lightning hurling at Kreia. It didn't head in just a straight line either, but spread out to hit several spots along its path. Her training kicked in and Master Kreia used her lightsaber to hold the lightning back for a few seconds. At the same time G'er lifted into the air and sailed towards the ship like a bullet.

Kreia ignored his screaming as she sat him down on the ramp and shoved him inside. For a small child he sure knew some rather nasty curse words. Then the Wraith cackled and the waves of energy increased as he brought his other hand to bear, tripling the amount of lightning.

She had only encountered Sith Lightning on a couple of occasions and that was in fights against Dark Jedi. They were like ants compared to this as she felt her ability to block the attack starting to wane. She had been a Master Jedi for nearly forty years now and this as a first for her. She started to smile as she realized that this just might be a true challenge. On her old face it made her look truly evil, her eyes started to gleam.

Then as quickly as it started, the lightning stopped and the Wraith stepped off of the remaining rocks and gazed at her. Relaxing slightly, Kreia stalked forward and tried to think of everything she knew about Wraiths. Only the ancient Sith Lords could create these monsters using their secret Dark Sorcery.

The stories about Sith Sorcery could have filled dozens of books, but no Jedi had ever figured out how the Force could be used the way the Sith used it. All she knew was that they were not to be underestimated. One mistake and she would be as dead as all the others. With that in mind she focused on the Wraith.

"Who are you?"

"I am Black Fang, Second in command of the Black Nebula Destroyer." The think said, its voice wasn't so much heard as felt inside her head.

"Never head of you."

"You are surrounded by the Dark Side, Jedi. Let me help you become what you truly need to become. You will make an excellent Sith."

Kreia grit her teeth as she felt the thing try and engulf her in the Dark Side. At least this was something she had experience with. She fought off this kind of thing every time she entered the Council's Dark Side storage vault. The Dark side was powerful inside that little room and it took practice to learn how to shunt the Dark energy away from yourself.

"Impressive, you have been around the Dark Side more than you should have, old crone." The Wraith hissed, and started to smile. Almost faster than she could respond his hand was out and the ground at her feet started to rise up and explode.

Her Training took over as she flipped to the side and sent her own Force shove at the Wraith, but even as it hit him, his form only wavered, it didn't budge an inch. She didn't stop to think about her failure though, instead she was running at him as fast as she could. Her lightsaber slashed down at him faster than the eye could move.

Her blade slammed against a real sword that he pulled from his back, blocking her easily. She stared at it in shock. Plasma and Sith Lightning cascaded down around the two of them as the weapons reacted badly to each other. Kreia launched backwards as her lightsaber started to make a weird sound.

Black Fang just laughed and held up his sword in triumph. "You are too weak to beat me.

Instead of standing around, Kreia was already on the move, another plan forming in her mind as she moved. Coming around from the side she attacked again. Her blade moving in a well-trained pattern. Her blows were all blocked with simple flicks of his wrist and she was sent staggering back.

Her chest exploded in pain and she realized that he had just slashed her across her chest. The Force screamed at her and she gave that creepy grin again and started moving in a super speed attack that surrounded her body in a nearly perfect circle of lightsaber slashes. Her saber and the metal blade struck each other in another wave of opposing forces.

Sith Lightning channeled through Black Fang's blade could be a devastating attack, but Kreia was already adapting enough to ignore the electricity and she was unconsciously keeping the Dark Side energies at bay. Her saber suddenly sliced through his leg and chest in a move far to quick for the eye to follow.

While nothing was cut off, Black Fang actually screamed and staggered back. She gave him another Force push and blew him into a dark mist that blew him off his feet. The mist hit the ground and went in all directions, billowing like a raging fire. Black Fang's scream turned from shock to rage in the blink of an eye.

He quickly reformed and stared at her with pure hate. The mist that made up his body swirled around him for several seconds as if it had a mind of its own. Master Kreia stood several yards away, her lightsaber deactivated, smiling easily.

"Aren't you supposed to be dangerous? So far you aren't that impressive and that must be why your old Master made you into this thing. Wanted to make you into something useful for a change? Did he get tired of you failing him all the time? You sure aren't cackling like a deranged Nerf anymore."

"I will destroy you!"

Kreia just grinned, her cloth-covered eyes letting her see the world around her better than anyone ever could. "You were scary at first, but now, you are just a waste of time. Go back into your hole and sleep. Terrorize the next bird that wanders out this way if you need some amusement."

The sword of Black Fang came up, dancing with Sith Lightning. "You don't know the Power of the Dark Side! Let me show you true Power!" He raced towards her, his mist trailing behind him, attacking with all his strength.

Surprisingly Kreia was beginning to understand what a Wraith was and quickly developing a way to dispose of thing once and for all. A normal Jedi might not have noticed the things she did, but she was a Jedi Historian, and brought her a lot of obscure knowledge that others wouldn't have available.

They came together in a burst of plasma and lightning, both blades moving at impossible speeds, blocking each other with each attack. Black Fang was screaming nonsense with every thrust and parry, his metal blade starting to glow red. At the same time Kreia spent her time watching and learning.

Back at the Jedi Temple they had training droids that could wield lightsaber's as well as any master. They were used to hone one's skills against fast moving targets and to pull off new moves that any of the Jedi could think of. This type of training had one flaw, droids could only do so much and were incapable unilateral thinking. If you trained on a droid without every fighting a real Master, you developed bad habits.

Those tell tale signs were very obvious in Black Fang's attacks. Training students in the ways of lightsaber fighting was one of her many duties, so she knew the signs. This Dark Sider at least, was under trained, but skilled in overwhelming his foes through terror. Her examination, done even as she parried his attacks, were finalizing a plan to defeat him.

Their fight was leveling the whole site though. She would absently slash out and destroy the large stones the Wraith was flinging at her every few moves. It was another predictable pattern that she could pick up on instantly. Her eyes started to gleam as she pressed the attack forward, Sith lightning raining down on her as she moved in closer.

Her attack feinted towards his torso, a spot that he knew as a ghost like construct of the Force, wouldn't be harmed in anyway. Black Fang just laughed, thinking she had finally made the mistake he wanted her to make, and lashed downward, intent on cutting her in half. At the last possible second, Kreia just smiled and twisted her saber around so that the handle of his sword hit the plasma blade.

"No!"

The sword exploded in his hand, pieces of mettle and wood flying in all directions. With a small hop Kreia flipped over him and slashed through his body several times until she hit something inside the body that her blade vaporized.

Black Fang didn't have time to even say anything as the magic holding his body gave out and he was blown away on the winds. After deactivating her saber Kreia walked over to a large rock and sat down. Letting her hold on the Force go so she could start to relax and recover. She was to old to be having major duels like this. She only had a few decades left in her after all.

Inside the ship, G'er watched the whole fight from the ramp and was amazed out of his mind. He could not remember ever seeing anything like that before in his life, even in some of the stories he'd heard. What was even more amazing was that an old woman had done such an amazing thing.

"Wow." He said quietly.

ooooo

Training under Jedi Master Kreia over the next few months was a crash course in the basics of everything. Running for an hour every morning nearly killed him the first few times, but after a couple of weeks and a little prodding, he finally managed to get beyond that little hurdle. That, along with regular food and a healthy diet managed to get him into shape for the first time in his life.

Once she was satisfied that he wasn't going to keel over in a stiff wind the training started to pick up. He had to read and memorize various Jedi codes of conduct, history, and logic classes. That last one gave him the most trouble since he wasn't one to think things through completely. The oddest thing was that as he learned more and more about universe around them, he realized that they never headed back to the Jedi Temple.

Instead they would spend several months on each of the planets they visited while they trained. From all his reading he knew they should have gone to the temple at some point. The real world knowledge he gained by traveling was never ending, but it would have been nice to know some other padawans. He picked up skills doing odd jobs while his Master explored dangerous areas looking for lost tech and information on the Sith and their followers.

Then she called in a favor on a small planet near the rim and he spent a further six months going to a military boot camp and school. By the time he was done with that he could fly Master Kreia's ship, fire or use any weapon she put in his hands, and had a maturity beyond most children his age. Of course he was the youngest one there, but that didn't stop them from beating everything they could into him.

He learned the basics for hand-to-hand combat, how to fire any kind of hand held blaster, strategy, battlefield logistics, and anything else they could throw at him. They pushed him to his limits and beyond without breaking him, just as Kreia wanted. G'er never bothered to tell her his real name and after awhile it just didn't matter anymore.

Once he was finished there they simply left the planet without any fanfare and moved on to the next planet. Master Kreia spent two days testing his endurance and making sure he didn't develop an attitude. Eventually she brought him to the ship's small lounge and had him sit down on the couch.

"You have done well so far, G'er." She said to him.

He shrugged.

"Now, we have been working on your mind and body for several months now, preparing you for the next step in your training. Learning to use the Force is both easy and hard at the same time. This why starting you at such a young age helps with your training, you don't have any bad habits yet. You have read about and practiced some of the techniques for using the Force. I even had your trainers make sure you did those techniques every day to make sure you didn't forget them. Now lets begin teaching you how to wield it with a little precision."

For the next six hours she went through technique after technique and having him try and perform each and every one of them. It didn't end until he literally fell over unconscious at her feet. And so began the next leg of his training. She was a no nonsense teacher that expected him to learn everything as fast as possible and then master it even quicker.

This was the type of environment that he thrived in apparently. By the end of the year he was beginning to master the basics for Jedi hand to hand combat, with and without Force assisted enhancements. Learning every technique would take years of training, but she kept pushing him to higher and higher levels of skill. His speed and precision would have surprised even the Youngling Masters on Dantooine if they had ever had a chance to spar against him.

Because they were moving about so much and spending so much time in space, the one area that they couldn't delve into was lightsaber training. In the temple the Younglings would spend hours every day with one of the Masters going over various fighting forms. Master Kreia on the other hand while fully trained with a lightsaber only knew a couple of forms, G'er quickly picked these up.

The ship computer had plenty of holos on the other forms, but he could only learn the basics from them. It took a teacher to really show each of the forms good and bad points. This frustrated him to no end and Kreia just shrugged and said he would be able to make up for the lack of training eventually.

When he suggested going to the Temple she refused and said her mission had to come first. She explained that when they landed on the next planet she would start to show him several saber techniques that would help him learn what he needed. While she wasn't an expert with the forms, she did have her own personal style that he was almost ready for.

G'er just shrugged and started to learn as much of the forms as he could within the limited environment of their ship. On the other hand, he was able to learn an amazing amount on his own as he let the Force surge through him, letting it whisper in his ear and guide his movements as he worked out for hours on end. The one area that Master Kreia had stressed at the beginning of the training was that he must always learn to be calm and controlled, letting his instincts listen to the Force so it could guide his movements.

He did this at first, but as time went on he unconsciously developed a habit that Kreia would never pick up on. One's emotions changed the nature of the Force as it flowed through the body. Positive or negative, it didn't matter to the Force; the mind would filter it all. G'er didn't think about being calm when he used the Force, he just let it flow through him as it was and let it energize him as it wanted.

So when G'er would use the Force to enhance his strength or speed, it came with an explosion of power that left Master Kreia astonished whenever she witnessed him move. Even the old Jedi Grand Masters didn't talk about things like this. They would say it was impossible and dismiss it if they ever saw it. Kreia's disagreements with the Council made her more than one enemy and was another reason she requested a long assignment away from them.

Finding a Padawan come as a surprise and registering him with the Council was one of the few times when she called to check in with them. They knew of G'er, but didn't have a clue that the boy was a prodigy. He was coming up on nine years old and she had no doubt that he could outdo a full fledged Jedi Knight.

The only thing the boy lacked was experience and he was soaking that up like a sponge. And he had yet to even build his own lightsaber, something that she would have to take care of soon. Luckily she could pick up all the parts he would need for a basic saber from her own spares.

Her eyes gleamed as she watched him from time to time.

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The Planet Q'eth

A twelve-year-old G'er stood at the edge of a small overlook and stared down into the nearly bottomless canyon that stretched out as far as the eye could see, so big that the other side was hazy and out of focus because of its sheer size. He was wearing a simple dark gray robe, boots, gloves, and a battered looking lightsaber hanging from his belt. He was quite tall for his age and used the hood of his robe to hide his face just like Master Kreia did.

His padawan braid was just visible at the edge of the hood, shifting around as the strong winds tried to pick him up and throw him to his doom at the bottom of the canyon. After six weeks on the planet he was quite used to the wind, as it was a central aspect of the training he just finished. G'er was also used to being isolated by now and didn't think anything of spending a month by himself in the middle of nowhere perfecting his Jedi training. His Master didn't like having him near the dangerous places she tended to enter every time they went somewhere.

For the last couple of hours he'd been waiting for his Master to return from her explorations down in the canyon. As usual she was searching for a Sith artifact on next to no information and a hunch, but this time she might be on the trail of a Sith treasure trove if her scans from the ship where correct. The last known treasure trove was found over eight centuries before by a group of Jedi on another mission. Nothing in his research said what happened to that group of Jedi.

Most of what she tended to find were long lost items of dubious worth and rarely had anything to do with the Sith themselves. Her fight with the Sith Wraith was a fluke that had surprised even the Council when they found out about it. One could spend a decade looking for a Sith treasure and never get lucky. If they did find one, it was likely that they would die soon after. Sith specialized in traps to protect their hidden items.

Death meant nothing to them. It was just a means to an end and the bloodier the better. After all these years G'er knew that Master Kreia hadn't found much actual Sith treasure. She always seemed to come across something promising, only to find that someone beat her to it long before. Like that box she found when they first met. Inside that thing was nothing but several pieces of metal, a small crystal, and some dust. Yet a Wraith had been set to guard this thing.

Even the researchers at the temple hadn't been able to piece together what it might have been. The best guess was a Sith Holocron, but other than the feeling of the Dark Side, next to nothing was left of the thing and all the information it might have contained was long gone due to the passage of time. Kreia's disappointment with that find had lasted weeks, but she managed to cram a ton of information into his head at the same time.

G'er felt that she wouldn't have much luck this time either, but she just shrugged and told him she had to look anyway. So she left him to practice on his own and to continue his reading of Jedi history. He found it amusing that no matter how much he read there was never an end in sight. Apparently there was so much information in the Jedi Archives that he would never get through it in one lifetime.

So Master Kreia handpicked what he should read and let him look at the rest randomly. He'd read the book of Jedi Code and learned all the major incidents up through the galactic war set off by the Sith Lord Exar Kun. There was so much that he got a headache from time to time as he read the thing.

Waiting patiently was something he was good at after six years. He'd never had any of those childish problems like rebelling or causing problems. Learning to live on his own for weeks at a time had made him grow up quickly. This, on top of the Jedi training and six months at boot camp set him apart from most of the children his age. He let the Force flow through him gently, not really using it, just practicing as he always did and it helped him to relax.

Over the years doing this brought him a lot of insight into the nature of the Force. At times it was so subtle that only a master would ever be able to tell the difference. Yet there were times when the Force was anything but subtle and more like a hammer, smashing everything in sight. Master Kreia said, he was several steps ahead of other Padawans because of his training and attention to detail. The only area that he was behind in was lightsaber styles.

His current saber was made from old worn out parts that Kreia gave to him. This made the thing problematic at the best of times. While sparing, the thing would just shut down for now reason. It would even malfunction when he moved fast, turning off with a spark and a pop. It was time for him to start building his own at this point, but that meant a trip to get his own personal crystals.

Some of the easiest places to get some crystals was either Ilum or Dantooine with its cave of crystals. G'er really didn't want to have to fight a nest of Kinrath insectoid monsters just to get lost in that maze of caves on Dantooine either. Even worse, with the number of Kinrath there, most of the crystals they would find would be Sith Crystals. He was relieved that it would be easy to find a crystal almost anywhere though, it would just take a bit of searching or a bit of luck.

He did have some blade colors in mind and meditated on them every now and then when he felt he might have found the right color, but never managed to pin down the right one. One thing he was sure of, he didn't want a blue or green blade. They were the most common colors and they just didn't fit him right. His current blade was blue and every time he used it the thing just felt wrong in his hands.

Master Kreia said that the Force was guiding him and that he would find the color that matched him when the time was right. Some Knights didn't chose a color till they were deep into their training and taking their trials. The colors, while traditional, were not something he had to have if the Force told him otherwise.

Looking out over the canyon humbled him a bit and G'er felt that there were still lessons to be learned if he could find them. Reaching out with his feelings he was able to sense the world around him easily. He could tell where the birds were in the trees, live moving around underground, and the contentment of the plants. The whole planet was like this and it helped him to relax and let the feelings flow over him.

Now that he was opened to the Force, he could tell that something was off at the edge of his senses. Looking around, he didn't see anything that stood out, but there was a sense of unease in the air. It wasn't a sense of danger either, but the potential for something bad to happen and it was unfocused. Even this feeling blended into the natural feel of the world around him. He'd never encountered anything like it before.

Turning, he walked away from the canyon overlook and tried to track down the problem before it did turn into something dangerous. The Force was hard to grasp as he tried to focus on the danger, as if it didn't want him to know what was going on. All he could sense was that the danger was below him, deep under ground. Reaching out with his feelings he was able to calm his mind enough to focus a little more.

He continued to move away from the canyon overlook and entered the small park area that the locals had planed to hide the canyon from casual observers. Several of the paths around him moved among the grass and the trees, bushes, and flowerbeds of the park, but he wasn't able to get a better reading on the danger. Whatever the Force was trying to convey, it was just out of reach so he continued to move until the sensation got stronger.

"Hello?" He called, but didn't receive an answer.

The constant wind was a little weaker as he got closer to a set of trees, but it was still enough to make his robes ripple and wave around. He grabbed his problematic lightsaber to make sure it didn't fall off. Transferring the device to an inner pocket instead would keep it safe from harm if anything did happen. The lightsaber would work for a few seconds if he really needed it and it was reset easily enough, it didn't even require tools.

Now that he was closer to the trees, the sense of danger was still there, but he could feel something inside. He didn't sense the Dark Side though, this was a different aspect of the Force that he was rather good with. It was a little hard to clarify what it was though. He stepped a little closer and hundreds of birds hiding in the trees launched into the sky without any warning.

He frowned as he watched them, why hadn't he sensed the birds when he could tell where the others were in the distance? He extended his senses a little more and grew a little more cautious, something was still there. It was next to impossible to tell what it was though and he was starting to get a little curious. This was nothing like the histories he read every night.

A lot of his reading was based around wars, combat, tactics, and discussions about every move made by either side. Master Kreia spent hours going over the littlest details to make sure he understood why an action or a death was so significant. He was twelve and did his best, but didn't always see the point and sometimes thought that killing this person was just stupid when talking to them would solve everything. Master Kreia just laughed and said he would begin to understand as he got older and understood human nature better.

Something at the back of his mind was telling him to be on guard here and as the last of the birds left the area a heavy silence descended. All that remained was the wind as he took another step closer towards the mystery. Still he didn't feel the need to pull his lightsaber and knew to do so would be a mistake. The Force was telling him so.

G'er moved towards the trees, his steps quiet and sure as he examined everything he could see. More than once Master Kreia sent him into areas that were like this, either to test him or help someone that was in danger. So he was on high alert, yet calm, as he moved towards the trees. If anything came out to attack him he would be ready.

He stepped beyond the trees and entered something unexpected. Instead of grass or a small open area, he was standing in front of a small shrine. It stood about four feet high and was made out of a stone he didn't recognize. Several glyphs were carved into the top of the shrine with a couple of small wooden doors below those. It was set on a small four-legged riser.

It was radiating a heavy Force signature now that he was in front of it. G'er moved a little closer and held out his hand, making a gesture. Over the last few weeks he witnessed the locals use the gesture several times. The inhabitants used it all the time, like a little backhanded wave when they used their ability to move the air. A burst of wind changed directions and swirled around the little shrine.

Instantly the unease turned to confusion and possibly contentment. That was a little weird, but he went with it and understood why the locals seemed to worship the wind like they did. There was something here that would actually respond with but a gesture. And it was force sensitive. He went over everything he could remember reading and nothing like this came to mind except a couple mentions of Force Ghosts.

Nothing here matched those accounts though other than the feeling at the back of his mind. The Force was suddenly quiet as well, not guiding him to do anything. The area around the shrine was well kept too, as if someone was tending to it on a regular basis. Whoever it was didn't leave much of a mark in the Force, or he would have been able to detect something even hours later. This was starting to turn into something Master Kreia should look at. He really wasn't good at figuring out these little mysteries that tended to pop up.

Moving over to the shrine he knelt down to look a little closer. He could just make out more writing on side, but it wasn't clean like the rest. Since he was wearing gloves he gently dusted the side of the shrine to get a better look at the words and found they were easy enough to read. Pulling out his scanner, he'd used it on Master Kreia's digs for years, he scanned the writing and made sure he had several shots of the shrine and the writings.

Something wasn't right. He could tell that whatever he was doing was causing another reaction in the Force and he hadn't encountered before. It was just odd enough that he stood up and moved away from the shrine. Within seconds he was several yards away, but the sense that something wasn't right was getting stronger again.

He felt that something was heading his way. Taking a calming breath, he decided to leave the area to see if it would calm down with him gone. The wind nearly picked him up and tossed him the instant he left the trees. He staggered several steps before he managed to regain his balance again. The wind hadn't been that bad when he entered the trees, it was usually a stiff breeze, nothing this strong except at the edge of the canyon.

There was still a sense of danger heading his way as well, but he couldn't sense any people nearby either. Before they were there, but some distance away, but now he couldn't sense anyone at all. He slowly headed back towards the canyon to retrace his steps. His boot camp instructors drilled into him the need to sure of every action he took. No matter how small and it had helped out more than once.

The wing was even worse as he neared the canyon and he decided that he didn't need to be any closer. His grey robe was nearly ripped from his body as he struggled against the strong winds. This wasn't the first time he encountered this, but it was a rather bad time for it to hit. He struggled to keep calm and used the Force to brace himself.

Something was out of place here and he wasn't sure what it was. Investigation just wasn't what he was good at. The Force almost screamed at him and in the blink of an eye the world started to heaved up and started shatter. He cried out in shock, completely caught off guard at the situation he was caught in.

Earthquake!

The ground heaved beneath him and sent him stumbling back as a rumbling roar filled the air. A large cracking sound a few feet away startled him out of his shock. He Force Jumped back by instinct and only had a split second to see the entire edge of the canyon overlook falling away and taking him with it! Hundred of feet of canyon wall gave way as the earthquake shattered it along thousands of tiny cracks in the rock.

Still within the embracing the Force, G'er managed to take stock of his predicament in an instant and formed a plan to survive the situation. He let the Force guide his every movement and with a flip he sensed several large rocks heading right for him as he fell deeper into the canyon. Utilizing a technique he practiced occasionally, he purged his mind of emotions, calculating where each of the rocks would be in a few second within his own mind.

He used a nearby rock as a springboard and bounced off several more rocks as fast as he could, Force Jumping almost faster than they eye could follow, at one point running vertically up the side of the canyon wall itself. This allowed him to gain enough height that the new edge of the Canyon was just coming into sight. The biggest problem was that the rocks were about to run out and leave him hanging in mid air.

Wide unblinking eyes watched as he planned his assent in a fraction of a second. Letting the Force guide his last few steps he flipped around in midair and used the wall of the canyon for one final jump that sent him rocketing upward at incredible speed.

He soared over the edge of the canyon wall, twisted his whole body, and landed several yards beyond the rim. With one crisis finished he was quick to realize that the earthquake was still shaking everything. A loud crack echoed off to the side as a tree shattered at its base and started falling towards him and taking several other smaller trees with it.

Still reacting on instinct, his lightsaber was out in the blink of an eye, its blue blade extended even as he swung the blade at a tree falling towards him. The trunk of the tree fell apart around him, large pieces of wood falling to the sides as the rest of it slammed into the ground hard enough to shatter some of the stone.

His blade sputtered and died seconds later with a little pop, bringing him out of his trance. Using the Force he shoved the remaining trees away from him before they could roll over him. G'er slowly stood as the earthquake finally started to die down to a low rumble. The whole thing couldn't have lasted longer than a minute, but to G'er it was several hours. Blinking slowly, G'er slowly hooked his saber back inside his robe pocket and let his heart rate return too normal.

As the quake passed, so did the harsh winds that were bothering him before, he was able to tell through the Force that things were in balance again. He couldn't sense any danger or threats in the area and he let stretched out as far as he could go. Master Kreia was there in the distance, unaware of what had just happened, working peacefully on her latest project.

Moving over to the edge of the Canyon he guessed that fifty or sixty tons of rock had sheered off the edge and fallen hundreds of feet to a second ledge down below. Some of that had slipped over the edge and fallen a few thousand feet to the bottom of the canyon. He liked to think he was beyond being affected by major emotions these days, but even he was a little shocked by what he just survived.

Turning, he made his way over to an over turned bench and used the Force to lift it up and set it down properly. Just as he sat down his hands were starting to shake a little. Closing his eyes, he brought his legs up and started meditating. His breathing slowed down to normal and he lost himself in the comforting feeling of the Force for a couple of hours.

During all that time no one bothered to come and check on the damage to the landmark that people visited all the time. He didn't really think about it till he was done meditating, but shouldn't someone have come to check the damage? Q'eth was a quiet planet with few problems with the Republic. They didn't even complain when they showed up unannounced and Master Kreia went off on her search for more Sith artifacts.

Making his way away from the Canyon, he was surprised to find that more of the trees had fallen than he thought. The little Shrine was exposed amongst the rubble now that its natural camouflage was removed. He wandered over to look at it. This time he wasn't sensing anything at all from the little building.

He didn't think his previous exposure to this place was wrong, but the Force was silent now. Nowhere in his reading was it mentioned that an earthquake could affect the Force in this way, so he was a little curious. He wondered if Master Kreia would be able to answer his questions whenever she got around to returning.

Then he noticed it. At the edge of his perceptions was something odd. It was hard to describe even as he examined it a little closer. There was pain all around him, but there were not animals at all, but the pain was there no matter what he did. He searched around to see if anyone was buried in the rubble, but found nothing.

Just collapsed trees and upturned earth. He lifted several large trees with the Force in his attempts to find the source of the pain, but there was no one there. The more he searched the more he was drawn to the area around the Shrine. He was feeling nature itself, the pain was from the fallen trees and uprooted plants.

Then the silence was broken as he felt a disturbance in the Force. His lightsaber flew into his hand as he spun around, his blade flaring into life. G'er could only stare at the figure before him. The man was about six foot or so, wearing typical Jedi robes, and surrounded by a light blue glow at the edge of his being. G'er was unable to make out the man's face under the hood. The Jedi walked forward and G'er could sense amusement. "Well young Padawan, well met."

G'er relaxed a little, unsure how to respond. "Hello."

"This area is dangerous, you best get back to your Master."

"She's quite a distance from here."

"Then you had best get on your way. This area will be crawling with Q'eth security forces in a little while."

"Is that why they aren't here?"

"They wait till it's safe to enter an area before responding. It's safer that way."

"Who are you?"

"You don't need to know that."

G'er nodded, accepting the answer without much thought.

"Now go."

"I was told to stay in this area till Master Kreia got back."

The man's head twitched to the side, as if not expecting him to disobey a direct order. "The Security forces here aren't as nice as the rest of the locals. They will arrest you if you stay here. You can move to a different location if you need to. Perhaps your Master's Ship. Stay there till she comes back." His lightsaber shivered and it shut down with a pathetic little spark that burned his glove.

He sighed and looked at the pathetic thing.

The man gave a little laugh. "You might want to adjust the setting on that too."

"Nothing works, sir. It's just old and needs to be replaced."

"Trust in the Force and a solution will be provided."

"So I've been told a few times."

"And yet it's always true."

G'er just nodded and the man was just gone. He looked around trying to figure out where he went, but came up with nothing. He wasn't sure who that was, but he had a feeling that he should have noticed more than the man. Glancing down at his problematic saber for a few seconds, he turned it off and decided it was time for him to give it an overhaul when he returned to the ship.

Even though Master Kreia understood why he had to take the saber apart about once a month to fix it, she was getting a little tired of him wasting several days making sure it would work. G'er kept telling her that he needed to build his own saber, but it was hard to find the time between missions to get it done. They would also have to go to Ilum or Dantooine to find the crystal he would need.

That would take anywhere from a couple of hours to several days. Days that Master Kreia didn't want to waste sitting in her ship waiting for him to return. Getting the right crystal also required that he pass whatever test the Force sent him. Whether that was talking to one of the Jedi from the past, or fighting a monster of some kind, the Force would guide him as it saw fit.

He might even be forced to go deep into the planetary crust of Dantooine to find the perfect crystal. The problem was that both of the planets were restricted sites to keep the crystals safe from unscrupulous profiteers. That meant they would have to get permission from the Jedi Council to go there.

This wasn't the first he'd thought about this. After six years of training he was long past due to move onto the next step of his training. The Force was calling out for him to take that step too, but he was dependent on Master Kreia, so he had to be patient enough for her to set things up. Now if only she wouldn't get distracted again.

G'er made a few quick decisions. He would have to see just who that Jedi was that he just talked to and figure out why the man just vanished. But for now he would need to take a few precautions because the Force was warning him of approaching danger again. This time it wasn't vague and hard to pinpoint though. It was heading right for him just like he was told. He was just glad he was able to take care of himself these days.

According to the Force, they weren't rescuers. This really wasn't the time to get into a fight for any reason even if he was starting to get a little tired from all this running around. He was supposed to be acting like a Jedi after all so he would have to let the Force guide him for a little while. His meditation had helped him recover nearly all his strength so he was ready for the next challenge heading his way.

After that he would be in a better position to help others. So when the sun went down and wind picked up for the night, he would make his way out of the area and attempt to contact his Master to let her know he was moving. Anyway, she wouldn't pick up her communicator during the day when she was working unless he used the emergency signal. Even this situation didn't warrant using that because she would drop down out of the sky like a ship performing an orbital bombardment.

Master Kreia could not be called subtle in any way, shape, or form. It took him a couple of minutes of work to get himself to a more secure location deeper in the trees. Even here several had fallen, but the damage wasn't as extensive as it was along the canyon wall. The Force was guiding him towards a part of the woods that couldn't be seen from any of the tails.

He was happy that the wind wasn't as strong here and didn't stop him from climbing over several of the large rocks sticking out of the ground here and there. Still, the wind was strong enough to whip is cloak around more than he was comfortable with. He worked his way past more trees and found that the ground was starting to incline.

The Force just told him to keep going higher, but at one point it was nearly impossible for him to keep going as the rocks suddenly jutted upward once he was past most of the trees. He vaguely recalled the various levels of rock they flew over in the ship when first arriving. It was hard to tell from the ground, but he thought there might be a couple more levels after this as well.

It didn't take him long to spot the best way up the wall and after a few minutes and little help of the Force, he was up the wall. He was standing on one of the natural outcroppings that seemed to be everywhere around the canyon. In the past this area was used for all kinds of illegal activities because it was so hard to get from one spot to another.

He decided to find some better weapons as well. As a Jedi Padawan he wasn't supposed to carry anything but a saber, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them. He needed something more reliable than a broken down ancient saber that had seen better days. Even his Master didn't know where all the parts came from the parts were from her own supplies.

After ascending to a ledge G'er took a second to check the area over. There is a crack in the rock just in front of him, big enough to let him squeeze through if he held his breath. It was here that the Force was drawing him to. Going into small spaces was not exactly his idea of fun either, but the Force was insisting that he go inside.

Sighing, he shrugged off is cloak so that it wouldn't snag on anything and carefully made his way through the hole. It was just over five feet long, but he managed to make his way through easily enough. Once inside he found himself in a tunnel of some kind. Rock formations weren't his area so he couldn't tell if it was man made or natural either.

He let the Force guide him again, putting his cloak back on as he moved through the tunnel. It was lit up enough from natural light sources that he didn't need a hand light to guide him. At the same time he had to be careful where he put his feet or he might twist an ankle. After coming this far his curiosity was starting to get the better of him.

Grinning a little, he had to admit to himself that he was starting to have a little fun. He rarely got to go out and explore like he wanted to. People may or may not have been after him, he was in danger, and he had to handle things on his own. Already several ideas and plans were floating around in his head.

It all depended on where the Force was guiding him. It took nearly half an hour of walking deeper into tunnel before he finally entered a large area. Now he could tell that this area wasn't a natural formation. The room was cut directly from the rock itself and had to be several centuries old to have this much dust on the ground. The sound of dripping water could also be heard off in the distance along with some kind of steady rumble.

What caught his eye though was the dead body on the floor. He walked over, pinching his nose closed to keep the disgusting smell out. He wasn't an expert on dead bodies, but he knew they went through various stages of death until all that was left was bones and whatever clothing they wore.

This body was a few days old at least as it was bloating up. He was used to finding skeletons when he was with his Master, but this was a first. Obviously male and he had a large hole in his head. A blaster didn't do this either, something was shoved through his head. G'er didn't want to stick around to long because the smell was horrible.

By the clothing, the dead man was a worker of some kind. The Q'ethian people were human too, a little primitive, but slowly working their way out into the universe as the years went by. Solving mysteries and putting little clues together was not something he was adept at. There were other Jedi that excelled in that area.

So he made his way around the body and went deeper into the cave. The low lighting continued to be about the same as well. The Force wanted him to see something nearby. Several minutes later he came to a stop. What he was seeing was impossible to describe accurately. In front of him was a durasteel door. What made the whole thing hard to put into words was the door wasn't set into the rock.

It looked more like the rock was shattered and piled up around the door instead. At some point in the past people had come down here to move the rocks out of the way and revealed the door. He had to guess that he was nearly a quarter of a mile below the surface at this point. Moving in for a closer look, he could see that the durasteel was covered in little dents, burn marks, and other substances he really didn't want to think about.

Considering just how hard durasteel is, G'er was amazed to see the damage to the door at all. It must have take weeks of effort just to put a dent in the door. Only a droid could pull that off. Out of habit he took a few dozen pictures of the find and would show them to Master Kreia when she got back.

He wasn't too surprised to find that the Force was guiding him to open the door and go inside. Moving closer to the door, he was able to see behind some of the rocks as he approached. Just as he thought, the rocks were covering something large made out of Durasteel. He was deep in the mountain, how this thing even got here would baffle anyone that encountered it. The one thing that stood out was that the durasteel was really old, even slightly oxidized.

Reaching out with the Force G'er examined the door controls and with a grunt of effort, forced the door to move back and slide to the side. A massive rush of bad air exploded around him before he could move. Bad air was one thing he was familiar with from all the searching his Master did of old places.

With only a couple of steps he was out of the rushing air and using the Force to hold his breath. It would be several minutes before the air equalized enough for him to enter the thing. It was pitch black on the other side of the door. A couple years ago he was on the planet Cadinth digging through some ruins of an old stone structure. Master Kreia had been trying to get him more involved in her work so he wouldn't be so isolated.

While her plan hadn't worked, he had learned a couple of interesting uses for the Force. Combining that with what he recently learned here on Q'eth he closed his eyes and drew in a large amount of Force Energy. He didn't need to use it like this for small things and it was always there in the back of his mind, shining brightly. But now he needed to move a lot of air around faster than it would move naturally.

His feelings stretched out deep beyond the door and he was mildly surprised to find that it was an ancient space ship buried under the rocks of a giant landslide. Once he was sure he was ready, he closed his fist as if grabbing something and yanked it backwards. A second massive rush of air exploded form the ship. This time it stirred up a lot of dust and sent it everywhere.

Submersed within the power of the Force he barely noticed the chaos he was creating. Once he felt the time was right he opened his fist and pushed forward, sending air back into the ship. He repeated this several times until he was sure that it was safe to go inside the ship. Taking a deep breath he opened his eyes and smiled, letting the Force go and gave it a mental thanks for helping him.

As he made his way into the ship he was sure that Master Kreia had sensed his use of the Force. He hadn't bothered to hide what he was doing and moving that much air wasn't the easiest thing to do. Reaching into his cloak he pulled out his hand held light and let the Force guide him into the ship.

Even without the Force it was easy to tell that the ship was incredibly old. Space Ships were some of the most advanced devices ever created. They were so advanced that people considered them a normal part of life on thousands of planets. No one could even remember a time when contact with other planets was completely unknown. The Galactic Republic made sure of that, whether you were human or an alien, it didn't matter. Even those races that were not advanced had some amount of contact with other planets.

G'er could tell just by looking at the inside of the ship that this thing had to be several thousand years old at least. The walls were made out of some kind of solid material and he couldn't find any of the usual devices that usually filled every wall and floor on a ship. No food processors, no sensors, nothing that really stood out.

He wasn't even using the Force as he walked deeper into the unknown. Whatever he was here to find it appeared he was on his own. For its age, the ship was in pretty good condition as well. There were cracks in the walls and floor and the exposed wiring along the ceiling was held in place quite well.

Every door he came across was also wide open. These were the old time doors too, computerized, but still using a pivot on the wall to hold them in place instead of inside the wall itself. A computer terminal along the wall was so old that he couldn't make out the writing at all. According to his scanner the language wasn't in the database, and it had examples of every known language in the known galaxy.

The lay out of the thing was pretty generic though. It didn't have that much hallway space or rooms. As soon as he passed several doors the floor entered a large cargo hold. He was impressed by the size of the thing. Using his flashlight he could tell that there were several hundred boxes stacked along the walls. The airtight seal of the hull made it impossible for dust to accumulate over the years, so everything was still in perfect condition.

He knew what he wanted was down below. At the end of the walkway a simple staircase made its way down to the floor of the cargo hold. His footsteps echoed through the hold as he made his way down. The pitch-black darkness would have made a normal explorer nervous, but G'er could tell that the area was empty of anything dangerous.

It was only when he reached the floor that he found that one side of the ship had collapsed at some point, several large rocks were pushing through the super strong metal of the hull. He felt a little sorry for the ship, it might have been old, but it would make a fine museum piece if anyone ever managed to dig it out. Repairs would be easy enough once it was free of the rock holding it in place.

The air was still a little stale down here in the bowels of the ship, but fresh enough that wasn't too worried. He hung his scanner on his belt and activated its sensor net. It would monitor everything within ten meters of him as he moved and warn him if anything was out of the ordinary. Master Kreia spent some of her own money to buy the devices when the Jedi Council refused to get them.

Her digs tended to be dangerous, for reasons other than the Sith, more often than she liked and the devices were equipped with a limited droid AI system. G'er didn't usually have his activated though. The thing could be damned annoying at times, spouting odd information at the weirdest times. Master Kreia had literally removed the speaker box on hers the day she got it.

About a third of the way into the hold he came across the first sign of danger in the whole ship, a skeleton of an unknown alien. It was wearing an old time space suit that had seen better days and the bones were yellow with age. The hole in the skull was probably how the thing died, though he wasn't sure what had caused the hole.

He knew how to tell the damage that a lightsaber and a blaster would cause easily, he ran across that all the time. Identifying weapon damage was one of his classes while at boot camp. And this sure wasn't his first skeleton either if he counted the body from earlier. The hands only had four fingers, larger then normal eye sockets, and an oversized rib cage with bones twice as thick as a human.

The handlight showed where some kind of blaster fire had hit the floor around the alien. He took several pictures of the body and area damage before he moved on. Master Kreia would be interested in this find. A ship this old had to be full of ancient wonders. Moving past the body, he made his way deeper into the hold and felt the Force nudge him to the right. Turning his flashlight in that direction, he gasped in shock and took several steps back.

With wide eyes he looked up a very large humanoid droid. Weapons covered its hands, arms, shoulders and even its legs. They were everywhere he looked. The only light in the hold was from his hand held light, so he hadn't even spotted the thing. His scanner hadn't registered it because it was out of power, probably for several thousand years at least.

He was also surprised to find that the thing used projectile weapons. He'd heard of bullets before, but never actually seen any. Chains of the things were hanging off the droid's arms. There were thousands of them ready to fire. He moved a little closer to take a better look. The droid fascinated him, but then he had to stop as his scanner beeped.

Pulling it off his belt he glanced at the screen and blinked. It was picking up a very faint power source behind the machine. Any power left in this ship after all this time was totally amazing. Even modern day power cores were designed to only last so long before they shut down. Polluting the environment was a good way to run yourself out of business if you weren't careful. Republic law was very strict when it came to things like that.

So he stepped around the combat droid and went behind the thing and was astonished to see that the droid wasn't a droid. Its back was open and he could see a harness inside the thing. It was a kind of powered armor.

Incredible.

Still moving he made his way over to some old boxes and two more skeletons. He couldn't tell how these two died, there were no obvious signs that he could see, but they were of the same alien species. The power source he was detecting was behind them, either in one of the boxes or behind those.

Frowning, he stood there for a few seconds trying to decide if he should disturb the bodies. Most people wouldn't have given it a thought, but six years with Master Kreia had taught him to look beyond the obvious and be careful with what he found. His broken lightsaber was an example of that.

The Force prodded him again and he went with his feelings. Taking a deep breath he reached out with the force and started lifting boxes into the air and setting them to the side two at a time. The two bodies slid to the side so that they wouldn't be in the way. It only took a few minutes to uncover the first layer of boxes to reveal a glossy silver crate.

He suspected that the two aliens had hidden the thing under all the other boxes. G'er could feel the Force coming off the box now that he was close to it. This was just like with the little shrine, he couldn't sense much from a distance, but the closer he got the stronger the feeling in the Force.

There was some kind of muting effect around the things, he realized. He glanced at the scanner as he stepped up to the box and the screen was starting to flicker. These things were designed to work even in the most hostile of environments, wind, ice, heat, it didn't matter. Yet a box with a tiny power surge was making it do this.

Not good. Again he thought about calling Master Kreia, he was starting to think going this far might have been a really bad idea. He didn't like placing himself in danger unless it was necessary. Even when he was just starting out he was smart enough to know the best way to get things done.

On the other hand the Force was felt safe around the object. The contradicting messages was a surprise, he was usually in tune with the Force. Better than most students of his age anyway. It came down to trusting his feelings or the Force, and he would choose the Force every time. It would guide him in the direction that would best serve the situation.

The box was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Most of the boxes in the hold were the generic types made from recycled materials that had been used for millennia, why change something that works so well? The stuff was practically indestructible anyway and would last and last.

This silver thing was completely different. The box was the same shape as the others, but the shiny metal was polished so well that he could see his reflection in it. Kneeling down by the box he ran his hand over the top until he found the small depression that protected the locking controls.

If this was one of the normal boxes he would've been able to open it manually, but this was a special kind that only a Force user could open. To do that he would need to feed some power into the box's system. These things were one of those famous antiques that people talked about with a bit of awe. Of the thousands that were made, only a few survived to this day and were some of the most prized possessions of the rich and famous. You could put anything in them and know that no one could ever get into the box without the proper code, or the Force.

Now he was starting to get a little curious. He sat his handlight on top of the box and pulled out his lightsaber. With practiced ease he quickly removed the power cell and set about connecting it to the box. Because of its age, this wasn't as easy as he thought it would be, but it was easy enough to figure out. Primitive systems were so much easier to slice into.

The power cell was one of the few pieces of his saber that was almost brand new. The one piece that he couldn't replace was the blade emitter. They were super expensive even at the best of times. The box beeped the instant it started to draw some power from his cell and a small indicator light told him it would take a few minutes before the box would work.

He kept hoping he might come across a lost lightsaber at some point that he could cannibalize for parts. Otherwise he was going to have to ask the Jedi Council for one and that would come with the usual strings, according to Master Kreia anyway. She just said to be patient and the Force would provide what he needed. So far this was true on each of the planets they visited over the years. Food, parts, supplies, even techniques they always managed to come across something that would help them on the next trip.

He knew the instant the box was ready and with a little Force manipulation the box opened for the first time in thousands of years. The hiss of displaced air didn't' surprise him in the least and there was a sense of anticipation in the air as he glanced inside. The paperwork wasn't much of a surprise, even in ancient times they had to push paper around to get things done. The writing was old, too old for him to decipher easily.

Life plodded along through the centuries, but when it came to spoken languages it was as if there were more than anyone ever thought about. The Force sang to him as he dug into the box, telling him that he was on the right track. It was almost playful now, giggly, something G'er couldn't explain to anyone that wasn't a Force Sensitive.

Below the paperwork he found several sets of Jedi robes still in perfect condition after all this time, though he didn't recognize the material they were made out of. A dark cloak caught his eye though and he sat it to the side, it felt important for some reason. A small flat wooden box caught his eye and he lifted it out for a better look. It was about three inches thick and about eighteen long with a simple clasp holding the lid in place.

Inside he found a pair of ornate blasters nestled into some kind of protective foam. They gleamed as he took them out and held them up. He had never seen a pair of blasters this old, and yet he could tell that they were more than that. They hummed with the Force as if they were greeting him. He'd found his back up weapons. Stuck to the inside of the lid was a small paperwork pouch, but whatever was inside crumbled to dust long ago.

Once he sat them on top of the cloak he continued to dig around until he came to the bottom of the box. A normal worker would've missed it, but he was examining the entire box inch-by-inch looking for anything that might help him and he could tell that something was out of place. He could also tell that the Force wanted something else as well.

It took him a few minutes to find it though. He found another small depression in the back corner of the box, a button of some kind. With a simple push the bottom lifted up enough for him to pull the false bottom out. Nestled below was a bundle of black silk with some kind of slip around the center.

He could feel the Force practically coming off the object in waves. Even he couldn't keep a calm facade when that hit him and he looked down at the object in awe. There was no way he could ever describe this to anyone. The strength coming off the thing was a little scary and he didn't even know what it was.

The Force wanted him to have the three objects though, he knew that. So he reached down and gently lifted the object out of the box and gasped as he realized what he was holding. He'd seen them in museums and even on a few pirates, but never anywhere else. It was a sword and the little slip, he noticed, was a Force seal. No one remembered how these things were made. It was all ancient Jedi knowledge that vanished over time.

A Seal, he never thought he would come across one of these. There were always rumors, but never any actual proof that they existed. Why would a Seal be on a sword though, it wasn't as if the Jedi would be using one.

Was this ship older than he thought it was? He nearly gasped as he knelt there and wondered just how long this ship had been buried there. Master Kreia would have to see this sword before he even thought about breaking the seal. She would skin him alive if she wasn't allowed to see this thing first.

Now how was he going to get all of this back to the ship?

ooooo

At a site some distance away an old woman with long white hair sat on a large rock and meditated on her days findings. Her dark brown robe was wrapped tightly around her head covered by a deep hood that obscured her eyes. Even here the constant wind gusts were making things difficult for her to study things properly.

There wasn't much to find here but she was positive that at some time in the distant past something truly bad had happened to this planet. Even after all this time she could still detect the Dark Side in the dirt at her feet.

The constant wind that blew across the surface of the world eroded most of ancient ruins to a small pile of rocks. Only a few other planets had this kind of corruption in the ground itself and those places were usually full of dangerous animals warped beyond any recognition. The Dark Side could turn the most peaceful of locations into terrifying places to visit.

The difference here was that this planet wasn't evil or dangerous, it was actually rather peaceful. The people did have certain traditions though if her research was right. One of them was the reason they developed the ability to control the wind in the first place. Millennia earlier when the planet was a much more dangerous place, they organized great hunts, and spending months tracking down and killing deadly animals that plagued the people.

The people were rather average even for their ability to manipulate the wind and air currents. Over the last several weeks she visited over a dozen sites where she thought something would be found, but the only clues were barely there signs of the Dark Side. She knew about cloaking something in the Dark Side and hiding it from sight and how to get around it. There was nothing to find here, but she knew that if she kept looking something would be found.

She still used her extra time to keep an eye on her latest Padawan though. He was turning out to be an intriguing one as well. The boy was a genius. He could do things with the Force that even surprised her old bones. It was as if the Force talked to him. For a short while she thought he might be the subject of a couple of Jedi Prophesies, but so far nothing suggested which one.

G'er was soft spoken, quiet, and could sense the smallest tremor in the Force with ease. The one area that he had problems was his ability to believe in himself. For some reason she could not get him to stop under appreciating his own skills. There was more to the boy than he would admit and he refused to come out of his shell.

His education was coming along splendidly, but the one area she had neglected was his lightsaber skills. No matter how many times his lightsaber was fixed it still shorted out at the worst times. She knew the solution to the problem, so did he, but she wasn't well liked among the current Council members.

They didn't like her quest and were trying to force her to stop by refusing to aid her when she needed it. Ever since G'er started traveling with her, their luck had changed, and they always managed to get buy, but she would've liked to have someone she could confide in like she used to when she was younger. This distrust coming from the Council was really getting to her after nearly a decade. So getting replacement parts for the saber would take time.

She meditated on her padawan's saber more than once over the last few years. While the parts she gave him to build it were old, they all passed inspection before she gave them to him. You didn't use inferior parts in a lightsaber, it was common sense. So she was unsure why his worked the way it did.

Sure she had several thoughts on the matter as well. G'er hadn't shown any control problems when it came to the Force, so she was a bit baffled. She could have him lift dozens of objects and send them flying in opposite directions, change direction and they would barely waver. His control was perfect. Yet his lightsaber would constantly short out.

He thought it was the beam emitter, but she knew better, but he insisted on it. Her examinations told her otherwise. She would have easily spotted a hairline crack in or around the emitter, but it wasn't there. She had her own private ideas on the matter, but they had no basis in fact and she needed facts to work with. She was a Historian after all and you couldn't just guess and hope you were right.

"Master Kreia."

She lifted her head and gazed in the direction of the voice. "I'm not in the mood to talk right now, machine."

As a Jedi Master out in the field she was required to have a droid nearby at all times so the council could get a hold of her in an emergency. The things gave her a headache more often than not. She just didn't like having one around even at the best of times. During long space flights she tended to turn them off and toss them in the nearest closet just to get a little peace.

"The Jedi High Council wishes to speak with you, Master." It said as its treads rolled to a stop next to the rock she was sitting on.

She huffed and nodded, turning to face the machine. "Go."

A panel in the front of the egg shaped droid opened to reveal a screen. Holo emitters were used around the core worlds, but they tended to degrade over long distances around the mid rim worlds so this droid was boosting the signal allow for a live picture to be presented. She instantly recognized Master Vandar Tokare as his image came into focus. A small green alien with thin white hair, it was a very deceptive appearance that made him dangerous.

"Kreia."

"Master Vandar, what can I do for you?"

"You have not returned to Dantooine in some time. Nor have you sent back any reports of your travels or finds. I thought we could discuss this." He said, simply.

"I have not seen the need to spend hours on end going over my finds when I've already studied them." She said.

"We would like to know what you have found that keeps you away." He explained.

She knew that they wanted more than that. "So far the finds have been few and far between. I'm on Q'eth right now and all I've found has been ancient traces of the Dark Side."

"Can you tell what might have caused the trace?"

"No, its been fading for centuries and I've checked over a dozen sites around the planet. The strongest traces seem to be in or around the great canyon that stretches over a third of the planet."

"Much history of Q'eth has been lost due to time and other horrors." Vandar said, curiosity getting the better of him. "If memory serves, Q'eth used to be a part of the ancient Sith empire."

Interesting, she didn't think any of the Jedi Masters would even remember that. "Yes it was, but during the end of the war, some kind of battle was fought here and 99% of the life on the planet was destroyed. The survivors rebuilt what they could, but it was never what it used to be, so they created their own society over the centuries."

"That is the basic information on Q'eth." Vandar shrugged; finally moving to the subject he called her about. "I wish to speak about your padawan."

She frowned. "What do you want to know?"

"You must bring him to Dantooine, he needs to be evaluated."

"He's doing fine as he is."

"We know nothing about him except his name and you promised to bring him by when you first found him, but never did."

"I got busy with a find." She said.

"It's been nearly six years since you took him under your care Kreia, its time he met some other padawan's his own age. He can't be with you every hour of every day."

"He's coming along fine."

Master Vandar huffed a little and glared at her. "There are rules to these things Master Kreia."

"And I've followed them. G'er needs special handling that he can't get there."

"What kind would that be?"

"He soaks up Force knowledge like a sponge. On Dantooine he would be restricted and held back at every turn, out here he can learn everything he wants at his pace."

"Yes, we've noticed that you connect to the Great Library about once a week to download more and more random information. To date you've downloaded more than any ten padawans would in a year. He can't be reading all of that and still learning."

Kreia started laughing like only an old woman could. "He's read every single piece of information I've put in front of him and he still practices several hours a day. His training is coming along wonderfully." Except his lightsaber training, she decided not to say. G'er would get caught up on that eventually.

"You still need to bring him to Dantooine for an evaluation." Vandar insisted.

"Not now."

"It needs to be soon, or we won't be able to recognize him as a Jedi, Master Kreia."

Instead of replying she sat back a little, the hood of her robe still covering her eyes and started to think. She really didn't want G'er to go to Dantooine; they would cause problems like they always did when she was around. Still, if G'er wanted to be a Jedi, he really did have to pass a couple of trials on Dantooine.

"Master Kreia?"

"I'm considering the request." She snapped.

"He would only have to be here for a couple of weeks and you probably need supplies anyway. We can provide everything you need." Master Vandar told her.

"I find that a little hard to believe with they way I've been shunned by the council in the past Master Vandar. While you might be willing to do as you say, I know better than to actually land on Dantooine."

The old Master actually looked taken aback by the statement. Even thousands of light years away from each other he could feel through the Force that she spoke the truth. He sat back to regard her for several seconds. "I lead the council Kreia, what I say, will be done no matter what the others tell you."

"My search makes the others uncomfortable. They don't understand why these things need to be found."

"None of us understand your quest Kreia, but we let you continue because the Force wills it."

"And it gets me out of your way."

Vandar narrowed his eyes. "I said no such thing."

"Yet you don't deny it either."

"You are very outspoken when it comes to your search and it worries the others."

Master Kreia shrugged.

"Bring your padawan home Master Kreia."

"Very well, so long as you keep your promise."

Master Vandar nodded. "I'll see you in a couple of weeks then. G'er could use the time to brush up on his lightsaber skills."

"How do you know about that?" She gasped, but the screen was already blank as the droid powered down and moved away.

Amused that the ancient Jedi had read her like a book, she shook her head a little and decided that they should leave as soon as they were able. Looking towards the horizon she reached out through her Bond to contact G'er.

"No!"

Jumping to her feet she yelled at the droid. "Pack up the camp and get everything to the ship." She yelled as she ran over to a small speeder bike and vaulted into the seat. As soon as she touched the handlebars it exploded forward, accelerating to its top speed in seconds. Its repulsor lifts glowing a bright blue as she pushed ever faster, leaving a trail of dust in her wake.

Through the bond she could feel G'er's pain and confusion, but couldn't determine the cause. Just that he was in some kind of danger. Massive gusts of wind blowing at her from several directions at once weren't helping her much either, so she let the Force guide her to her padawan.

ooooo

It was when the hairs stood up on the back of his neck that G'er slowly stood up and turned around. After six years of studying how to be a Jedi he knew that the majority of his life would be spent in dangerous situations, but he figured it would be after he reached Knight level. Not at this point in his studies.

His handlight managed to brighten up the cargo hold quite a bit, but it had its limits. The small thing could only light up so much space and at the edge of that space he could see several small things crouched down, little red lights easily visible. G'er was a little shocked to realize that he hadn't sensed them approaching at all. He was starting to think that an outside force was doing something to his perceptions. Three times in one day was to much of a coincidence.

He had a bad feeling about this. Each of the things, tiny droids he realized, and was quite different than anything he could remember. Within the Force they were like little blank spaces. Several of them took a few steps forward and chittered at him. The sound was annoying and just a little creepy. His lightsaber power cell was still connected to the box, so his main weapon was out of commission when he might need it most.

Moving slowly, he reached down and picked up his newest finds, the blasters. With no time to test them, he wasn't sure they would work. Several plans were already swirling around in his brain and only a couple of them included the unknown blasters. The instant his hands touched them he knew they worked a little different than normal blasters.

The handles fit the palms of his hands perfectly and he could feel the Force touching the Blasters. At the edge of the light several more of the droids were moving around. They were analyzing him in some way, weighing their options. Over the last couple of years he studied a lot of droids since everyone used them.

Even Master Kreia and she didn't care for the things. She thought they were a waste of materials and could be put to better uses than to be someone's personal servants. G'er found her dislike of droids to be rather funny, though he would never say so. He patiently stood there observing the little machines and tried to figure out where they had come from.

The sensor on his belt was also being to quiet. It should have picked up on them before they got this close and warned him. He glanced at it and was a bit shocked to find that it wasn't registering the things. As far as it could tell, there was nothing there to warn him of. So he stood there waiting for them to do something. He knew they would attack him eventually.

How could powering a box activate the droids? Everything on this old ship was without power, yet there these things were, slowly surrounding him, and drawing power from somewhere. They had four little legs connected to a small cylindrical and moved around on tiny little wheels.

Being guards for the cargo, he knew they would have to be armed in some way. He just couldn't tell what they were armed with. There was a tiny spot on each side of the cylinder about the size of a thumbnail. They continued to bounce around and chitter at him, not moving forward at all. As if the light was keeping them from getting closer.

Suddenly a light on each of the blasters started to glow and he felt a build up of power. At the same time several of the droids suddenly surged forward, plasma bolts leading the way. G'er reacted in the blink of an eye as he hopped backwards over the silver box. Raising the blasters he pulls the both triggers and unleashed blaster fire on the droids!

ooooo

To Be Continued...

Notes: As with comics, I'll try and end on a cliffhanger when I can to make things more exciting. This first chapter is development and set up for the most part, giving you and idea of the characters themselves, as I may not have time to show certain things in upcoming chapters. Kreia can be looked online, as well as Master Vander.

Now for G'er, he is based off of several ideas I've had for characters, but never used. As this was originally going to be an Harry Potter crossover, I kind of based him off of Harry, but as the fic went on this turned out to be kind of Lame. So I scrapped the idea and reworked him completely. Right now he's based more on a padawan from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game than anyone else.

I won't reveal everything about him, but I did give a couple of clues in the chapter. I'm also adapting several weapons that aren't listed on Wookiepedia, but I figured it would be easy enough to for them to exist. The Sith aren't the only ones that can create weapons after all.

Feel free to email me if you have questions. Reviews do help to inspire me quite a bit.


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